Musical instrument



Dec. 13, 1966 R. THIBODEAUX MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 1, 1964 //v vz/vroxa ROBE/P7 m/aoom ux ATTORNEYS.

1.966 R. THIBODEAUX 3,290,981

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed July 1, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fla? VIOLI VI 1STE/NC- s 5 TE/NG 5 lNVE/VTO/P B06597 TH/BODEA UX W MM 5 ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,290,981 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Robert Thibodeaux, St.Martinville, La., .assignor of thirty-three and one-third percent toHuey P. Meaux,

Winnie, Tex., and thirty-three and one-third percent to Harold B.Lipsius, Philadelphia, Pa.

Filed July 1, 1964, Ser. No. 379,620

12 Claims. (Cl. 84326) This invention relates to a musical instrument.More particularly, it relates to a keyboard instrument for producing themusical tones of a viol type instrument.

Heretofore, viol string instruments, adapted to be played with the useof a keyboard, have been constructed using complicated pneumatic systemsand controls. Such prior instruments are bulky, difficult to maintain,and expensive. The musical instrument in accordance with the presentinvention, described herein, overcomes the disadvantages of the priorkeyboard instruments.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, a bow string instrumentof the viol family, played by depressing the keys on a keyboard, isprovided.

It therefore is a general object of the present invention to provide anovel musical instrument.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel stringinstrument for producing tones normally associated with the viol familyof instruments.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novelbowed string instrument that is played by depressing the keys on akeyboard.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a musicalkeyboard instrument with a novel action means.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novelmusical keyboard instrument which is compact, relatively easy tomaintain and relatively low in cost.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in thedrawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood,however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangementsand instrumentalities shown.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the keyboard musical instrument inaccordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top sectional view of the musical instrument.

FIGURE 3 is a partial sectional view of the musical instrument shown inFIGURE 2, taken along the line 3-3.

FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view of the musical instrument shown inFIGURE 3, taken along the line 44.

FIGURE 5 is a schematic diagram of the bowing control mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numerals indicate likeelements, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a musical instrument for producingthe tones of a bowed string instrument designated generally as 10.

As shown, the instrument comprises a keyboard 12 disposed adjacent thefront of a housing 14. The housing 14 is a box-like structure, which maybe made of wood or plastic. The top 16 of the housing 14 is providedwith a sound opening 18 across which an acoustical cloth 20 may beprovided. The top 16 may be adapted to be removably attached to thehousing 14 by such means as screws 22 or other forms of fasteners. Ashelf 24 extends from the forward face of the housing 14 to provide asupporting structure for the keyboard 12. As shown, the shelf 24 is anintegral part of the bottom wall of housing 14.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, the keyboard 12 comprises an assemblage ofindividual black'and white keys arranged in the same physical positionsas in a typical piano. Further, the keys are pitched in the same manneras piano keys. That is, progressing from the key furthest to the left,the keys represent the notes G, Gil-Ab, A, Ail-Bl), B, C, etc. However,the strings which the keys actuate are viol strings. The violin has beenchosen as the instrument by which the present invention is to beillustrated. Therefore, in all, there [are 32 strings, representingseven G violin strings, seven B violin strings, seven A violin stringsand eleven E violin strings.

Each key is connected to an individual string by a mechanism to bedescribed. When a key is depressed it causes the string to move intocontact with a continuously moving bow thus producing the clear opentones of a violin or viol instrument. In accordance with the presentinvention notes can be played one at a time or, if desired, severalnotes can be played at the same time. It is to be understood thatalthough the present invention is described with regard to producing thetone of a violin, other bowed string instruments are possible.

In order to simplify the description of the invention and because theconstruction of each string and key is similar, only the lefthand keyand string will be described in detail. It is to be understood thatunless otherwise described, each key is constructed in the same manner.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, there is shown a sectional view of a key 26and a string mounting mechanism or action bar 28. The key 26 ispivotally mounted on a rod or pivot pin 30. The pivot pin 30 is mountedin the sides of shelf 24 and extends transversely through all of thekeys on keyboard 12.

A spring 32 is mounted beneath key 26 and held in place by a pair ofplates, on either side of each key. Only plate 34 is shown. The springaction of spring 32 biases key 26 so that the end beneath housing 14normally moves downwardly until it is stopped by stop pin 36. Stop pin36 is mounted in shelf 24 and extends into an enlarged hole in key 26.The interior of hole 26 may be lined with felt to reduce keying noise.

A front rail pin 38 is mounted in shelf 24 and extends into a felt linedhole in key 26. The front rail pin 38 serves as a limit-stop to arrestthe motion of key 26 when it is struck or depressed. When key 26 isreleased, the biasing action of spring 32 returns the key to a positionresting against stop pin 32. Key 26 may be made of wood, plastic, ormetal. If wood or metal is used the exposed top portion of key 26 may beprovided with an ivory or plastic cover. Such cover resists wear,particularly in the area of finger plate 40.

A connecting rod 42 extends from the end of key 26 and moves up and downtherewith. As shown, the bent portion 44 of rod 42 extends beneathaction bar 28. The bent portion is received in a slot 46 provided inaction bar 28 to thereby assure that there is no lateral movementbetween the rod 42 and bar 28.

The'action bar 28 serves to mount the violin string 48 and, whenactuated, moves it into contact with the bow 50. Action bar 28 ispivotally mounted on a rod or pivot pin 52. The pivot pin 52 is attachedto housing 14 and extends transversely through all of the action bars. Aslide pin 54 is mounted on the bottom of housing 14 and extends into afelt lined hole in action bar 28. Slide pin 54 limits the pivotalmovement of action bar 28 and holds it in position on pin 52.

The action bar 28 comprises a main body portion 56 and integral upwardlyextending end portions 58 and 60'. The action bar 28 may be made oflaminated wood or metal. However, laminated wood is preferred because itcombines the best qualities of strength and quietness.

String 48 is mounted on action bar 28 by means of peg 62 and tuning peg64. Tuning peg 64 is rotatably mounted on the end of action bar 28. Thestring 48 is attached to said peg 62 and tuning peg 64 in the well knownmanners for attaching violin strings. By rotating tuning peg 64 thetension on string 48 is increased or decreased and therefore thefrequency of vibration of said string can be adjusted. In this manner,string 48 may be tuned to produce the correct note.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the string 48 does not make direct contactwith the top of upright portions 58 and 60. Rather, string 48 extendsfrom peg 62 over an upwardly jutting strip of material 66 on uprightportion 58 and over another upwardly jutting strip 68 on upright portion60. Further, a V-groove 70 has been cut in the end of upright portion 60to receive a string 48. The strips 66 and 68 may be made of a hardsubstance such as plastic which is glued or otherwise attached to thetop of upright portions 58 and 60. Similarly the V-groove 70 may belined with a hard plastic substance.

Strips 66 and 68 provide fixed ends for vibrating string 48 by biasingit upwardly. According to well known laws of physics, the distancebetween the strips will in part determine the frequency at which thestring 48 vibrates. Therefore, since a musical instrument is a functionof the frequency at which its tone generator vibrates, a note or toneproduced by strip 48 can be varied by changing the position of strip 68on upright portion 60.

Thus, as shown in FIGURE 2, each key on the keyboard 12 is associatedwith a particular action bar upon which is mounted either a G, D, A or Eviolin string. The note produced by each string, if it is other than anopen G, D, A or E, is determined by the position of a plastic stripsimilar to strip 68 on action bar 28. These strips are in effect thesame as the finger positions of a player playing a conventional violin.In FIGURE 2 the strips are shown as a staggered series for each of thefour types of violin strings, progressing toward the keyboard 12.

The bow 50 extends transversely across the strings. It is made of hair,just as the typical violin bow is made. However, bow 50 is formed as acontinuous belt of hair extending through the sides of housing 14 andover pulley 72 and pulley 74. Pulleys 72 and 74 are journaled insupporting brackets 76, 78, 80 and 82. Brackets 76-82 mount the pulleysat a slight angle so that bow 50 is at a slight angle with respect tostring 48.

Pulleys 72 and 74 may be provided with a slight V-shape so as tomaintain the bow 50 centered thereon. Further, pulleys 72 and 74 may beprovided with a roughened or textured surface so as to insure goodfrictional contact between them and bow 50. Brackets 80 and 82 areprovided with slots (not shown). The journal bearings for pulley 74 areheld in place in the slots by thumb screws 81 and 83. In this manner,the tension on bow 50 can be adjusted.

Pulley 72 is mechanically coupled to electric motor 84 which rotates it.Rotating pulley 72 drives bow 50 continuously over the strings and overpulley 74. The speed of which motor 84 rotates and hence, at which bow50 moves, is controlled by a potentiometer 86 in the form of a foottreadle 88. A player controls the position of potentiometer 86 onresistor 87 by depressing foot treadle 88. In this manner, a player cancontrol the rate at which the musical instrument is bowed.

Brackets 76 82 and motor 84 are mounted on the side of housing 12.Rubber pads 90 are inserted between the housing 12 and brackets 76-82and motor 84 to prevent any vibration from being transmitted to housing12.

The operation of the musical instrument is as follows:

When a note is to be played, one of the keys, such as key 26, isdepressed. This causes rod 42 to move upwardly thereby pivoting actionbar 28 about pivot pin 52. String 48 moves upwardly and makes contactwith bow 50. When this happens, the bow 50 causes the string 48 tovibrate and a musical tone is generated. As indicated above, bow 50 ismounted at a slight angle to string 48 so that only a portion of itmakes contact therewith.

When key 26 is released, the string 48 moves out of contact with bow 50.In order to damp out the vibration of string 48 and to preventsympathetic vibrations of other strings not being played, a damper 92 isprovided. Damper 92 is mounted at its ends to the sides of housing 12,and it extends transversely across said housing between the string andaction bar of each note. A felt covering 94 is provided on damper 92.The height of damper 92 is adjusted so that when a string is in itsinoperative position it rests thereon. Thus, when string 48 drops downfrom making contact with how it will rest against the felt cover 94 ondamper 92 and therefore cease to vibrate.

In operation a long sustained note can be produced by simply holding akey down. Short or staccato notes can be played by merely striking andreleasing the key. If desired more than one note can be played at atime.

A microphone 96 is mounted in housing 98. Housing 98, together withhousing 100, encloses the pulley and motor mechanisms. Microphone 96 maybe connected to a reverberation unit and amplifier (not shown) toproduce a concert hall effect of one or many violins. The amplifier andreverberation unit are well known and need not be described in detail.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and,accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, ratherthan to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keysthereon, first pivot means for pivotally mounting said keys, a stringmounting means associated with each key, second pivot means forpivotally mounting said string mounting means, connecting means forconnecting each key with each string mounting means so that pivotalmovement of each key causes a corresponding pivotal movement of theassociated string mounting means, a musical string mounted on each saidstring mounting means, each string being tuned to vibrate at a differentmusical frequency, a damper extending transversely of said strings, saiddamper being mounted so that said strings rest against it in theirinoperative position, a continuous bow extending transversely of saidstrings, motor means for causing said how to move continuously past saidstring, whereby pivotal actuation of said key causes said strings tomove out of contact with said damper and into contact with said how.

2. A musical instrument for producing string viol tones comprising akeyboard having a plurality of keys thereon, first pivot means forpivotally mounted said keys, a string mounting means associated witheach key, second pivot means for pivotally mounting each of said stringmounting means, connecting means for connecting each key with itsassociated string mounting means so that pivotal movement of each keycauses a corresponding pivotal movement of said string mounting means, amusical string mounted on each said string mounting means, each stringbeing adapted to vibrate at a different musical frequency representingthe notes of a viol instrument, a damper extending below andtransversely of said strings, said damper being mounted so that saidstrings rest against it in their inoperative position, a continuousbeltbow extending above and transversely of said strings, pulley meansmounting said how, and a motor for driving said pulleys to cause saidbelt-bow to move continuously over said strings, whereby pivotalactuation of said keys causes said associated strings to move upwardlyout of contact with said damper and into contact with said beltbow.

3. A musical instrument comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keysthereon, first pivot pin means extending transversely through said keys,spring means associated with each key for upwardly biasing the fingerplate end of said key, a string mounting means associated with each key,a second pivot pin extending transversely through each of said stringmounting means, a connecting rod attached to each key, each saidconnecting rod extending below and in sliding contact with each stringmounting means, each of said string mounting means comprising anelongated body portion through which said second pivot pin extends, afirst upright portion adjacent one end of said elongated body, a secondupright portion adjacent the other end of said body, a peg mounted onsaid first upright portion, a tuning peg mounted on the other end ofsaid body, string bias means attached to said second upright portion, amusical string attached at its ends to said peg and tuning pegrespectively, said string extending between said first and secondupright portions, said string being mounted in overlying contactingrelation with said string bias means, each of said string bias meansbeing spaced from said other end of said elongated body by a distancesuflicient to fix the frequency at which said string is to vibrate, adamper extending below and transversely of said strings, said damperbeing positioned so that said strings rest thereon when in theirinoperative position, a continuous belt-bow extending'above andtransversely of said strings, drive means for causing said belt-bow tomove continuously above said strings, whereby pivotal actuation of thefinger plate end of a key causes an associated string mounting means andstring to move upwardly out of contact with said damper and into contactwith said belt-how.

4. A musical instrument comprising a keyboard having plurality of keysthereon, said keys being pivotally mounted to pivot about a transversehorizontal axis, string mounting means associated with each key, each ofsaid string mounting means being pivotally mounted to pivot about atransverse horizontal axis, connecting means for connecting each keywith each string mounting means so that pivotal movement of each keycauses pivotal movement of the associated string mounting means, each ofsaid string mounting means comprising a body portion and a pair ofupright portions adjacent the ends thereof, a musical string mounted toand extending between said upright portions, bias means on one of saidupright portions for determining the effective length of each string andcausing each string to vibrate at a different frequency, a damper, saiddamper being mounted so that said strings rest against it in theirinoperative position, a continuous bow mounted transversely of saidstrings, drive means for causing said bow to move continuously past saidstrings, said bow being spaced from each of said strings so that pivotalactuation of a key and an associated string mounting means causes saidstring mounted thereon to move out of contact with said damper and intocontact with said bow.

5. A musical instrument in accordance with claim 4 wherein said biasmeans comprises an upwardly projecting strip of material mountedtransversely of said string.

6. A musical instrument in accordance with claim 4 wherein saidconnecting means comprises a rod attached 6 to each key at one endthereof, the other end of said rod extending below and in slidingcontact with each string mounting means, an upwardly bent portionadjacent said other end of said rod, a slot in said string mountingmeans, said upwardly bent portion being received in said slot.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein a peg is provided on oneof said upright end portions and a rotatable tuning peg is providedadjacent the other one of said upright portions, and said musical stringis mounted to said peg and tuning peg,

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein said drive meansincludes an electric motor coupled to one of a pair of pulleys mountingsaid belt-bow.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein said electric motor isprovided with a foot controlled potentiometer means for controlling itsspeed.

10. A musical instrument comprising a keyborad having a plurality ofkeys thereon, said keys being pivotally mounted to pivot about atransverse horizontal axis, string mounting means associated with eachkey, each of said string mounting means being pivotally mounted to pivotabout a transverse horizontal axis, connecting means for connecting eachkey with each string mounting means so that pivotal movement of each keycauses pivotal movement of the associated string mounting means, each ofsaid string mounting means comprising a body portion and a pair ofupright portions adjacent the end thereof, a musical string mounted toand extending between said upright portions, a damper, said damper beingmounted so that said strings against it in their inoperative position, acontinuous bow mounted transversely of said strings, drive means forcausing said bow to move continuously past said strings, said bow beingspaced from each of said strings so that pivotal actuation of a key andan associated string mounting means causes said string mounted thereonto move out of contact with said damper and into contact with said bow.

11. A musical instrument in accordance with claim 10 wherein bias meansare mounted on one of said upright portions for determining theeffective length of each string and causing each string to vibrate at adifferent frequency.

12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 wherein a microphone connectedto a reverberation unit and amplifier is acoustically associated withsaid musical instrument.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 210,028 11/ 1878Harris 84-326 1,397,479 11/1921 Adamson 84326 1,577,501 3/1926 Strawn84326 2,197,773 4/1940 Rosenfield 84330 2,917,963 12/1959 Lucchesi84-282 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

1. A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT COMPRISING A KEYBOARD HAVING A PLURALITY OF KEYSTHEREON, FIRST PIVOT MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID KEYS, A STRINGMOUNTING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH KEY, SECOND PIVOT MEANS FORPIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID STRING MOUNTING MEANS, CONNECTING MEANS FORCONNECTING EACH KEY WITH EACH STRING MOUNTING MEANS SO THAT PIVOTALMOVEMENT OF EACH KEY CAUSES A CORRESPONDING PIVOTAL MOVEMENT OF THEASSOCIATED STRING MOUNTING MEANS, A MUSICAL STRING MOUNTED ON EACH SAIDSTRING MOUNTING MEANS, EACH STRING BEING TUNED TO VIBRATE AT A DIFFERENTMUSICAL FREQUENCY, A DAMPER EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID STRINGS, SAIDDAMPER BEING MOUNTED SO THAT SAID STRINGS REST AGAINST IT IN THEIRINOPERATIVE POSITION, A CONTINUOUS BOW EXTENDING TRANSVERSLY OF SAIDSTRINGS, MOTOR MEANS FOR CAUSING SAID BOW TO MOVE CONTINUOUSLY PAST SAIDSTRING, WHEREBY PIVOTAL ACTUATION OF SAID KEY CAUSES SAID STRINGS TOMOVE OUT OF CONTACT WITH SAID DAMPER AND INTO CONTACT WITH SAID BOW.